[The black eye, compared with Val's sudden intensity, is...a bit concerning. Dera's expression becomes careful in return, though...he's extremely out of his element. It's all a bluff if he looks like he's in control.]
It's...what you're suggesting, isn't it? [Was she being sarcastic?]
Here, maybe I can...tell you what I'm imagining, and we can help visualize it together--
Look, I know it sounds stupid, but the place isn't exactly brimming with options, huh?
[It is, technically, what Val was suggesting. Partly. She did not suggest she might be able to do diddly squat. That part makes the whole thing sound like the load of unreal nonsense like Dera was talking about.
[Funny how the tables can turn.]
[In response she simply nods. Their options are limited indeed. Take the stage, Dera.]
[Dera nods, feeling immediately stupid (read: self-conscious) for playing along at all, but...It could still be a dream, and if it isn't, then...Well, either way, anything could happen.]
Okay, close your eyes and just picture...[He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath in through his nose (coughs a bit, but you know how it is).]
It's like this big green back yard, but it slopes way down on this massive hill. There's a garden at the top with strawberries growing, but you aren't allowed to touch them yet.
[His voice, as he relays this, goes soft. He sounds...peaceful.]
There's uh...There's a weird sculpture at the bottom of the hill. It's got three big rungs on it, one inside the other like one of those nesting dolls. You can swing them around in a circle, but...you're not supposed to stand on them while they're moving. Could get hurt.
The cars...two play cars, old as shit. Not the kind with a motor - you have to move the pedals with your feet. There are rubber snakes in the backseat because real snakes keep getting in when your--
[It’s a vivid picture. It’s more specific than nearly anything even Kade’s backstory has to offer; forbidden, tempting strawberries. A swinging, three-runged sculpture. Toy cars, foot-powered and haunted by snakes. And the bluest sky—not the glaring #0000FF of an error screen, but a real, true blue, the kind only a sky with an atmosphere can make.
[It’s a childhood. It’s soft, nigh-idyllic. And it’s…
[…here?]
[Val doesn’t risk opening her eyes first; maybe she won’t, ever. The fantasy is pleasant as it is all-surrounding; a sweet, warm dream, where kids do what they shouldn’t and everything is just… nice.]
[Should Dera look around, he’ll notice a few details askew; grass textures in low resolution, and the sculpture is warped as though run through an AI blender. On the horizon, the landscape gives way to a gaussian blur. But otherwise, the place of his memory is secure, and intact and voidless, as it should be.]
[It takes Dera a moment to open his eyes. Do you ever smell a memory before you see one?
[He opens his eyes. It's his grandmother's backyard. There are some differences - a blur here and there that doesn't make much sense; it doesn't matter. Emotion wells up in his chest, forcing its way out through teary eyes. His smile is wide and breathless; he never smiles like that anymore...]
[At Dera’s voice, curiosity wins and Val opens an eye—
[—and then the other (and by now both are clear), and her mouth falls open in an utterly thrilled shock.]
It—
It worked—!
[If she thought she was a kid in a candy store at Dream-Mart, this is a carnival. No, a theme park. No, a— It’s a place! It wasn’t predefined or randomly-generated! It’s real, live, actual place— Val could kiss the ground they stand on.]
It worked!
[She runs around in a small zigzag, pausing sporadically to make sure everything is still there, and it is, and— !!!!!]
Dera! [When Val turns back to him, her grin is wider than ever. For the first time since they’ve met, that smile is real, real, real—genuinely, unabashedly joyous.] You did it!
[It's weird. Dera's no good at smiling when he's not at work. He doesn't really laugh, aside from maybe a short exhale out of his nose. He hasn't felt "joyous" in a long, long time, but...Val's excitement - Val's joy - is contagious - not to mention the miracle he's witnessing--
[The miracle he...made?
[He laughs, but it's wobbly - he's wobbly. He flops back against one of the brick walls near the garden, still laughing, still breathless. There are tears in his eyes, but they don't hurt. This is home. He never thought he'd truly get to see it again...]
This is amazing, this...
Val, you...[He laughs again, throwing up his hands as if in defeat, but it's a giddy sort of thing.]
You were right - no, listen! You did it. We did it!
[Valerie indulges the giddy runaround just a bit longer, but she does notice those strange blurs and odd textures, and Dera’s talking to her, anyway. Might as well quit while she’s ahead, for a change.
[She kicks back by the wall with him, folding her hands behind her head and still looking around in bewilderment.]
Ha, the messed-up parts are probably my contribution. [It’s a singsong little sentence.] You, on the other hand: This is the place you imagined! [Val jabs him with a finger; a little too hard, probably, if only because she has no clue what a normal amount of pressure might be with a real person. No ill intent, for once.] Told ya you had it in you!
[Combined consciousnesses are cool indeed, Dera. Granted, Val can’t imagine what she’d have to contribute to the void-spanning conscious creativity pool, but she’ll cede the point nonetheless. The voids she’s used to are a lot more one-sided with these things.]
Ah, so it’s your childhood home after all! [Val glances around for a house anyway.] There’s no void to fill here, but I bet you could make the rest of it! Memory permitting, and all.
Well, yes! I figured that, anyway. [Familiarity, and all.] But now that you mention it…
[A pause. Sky’s still that brilliant blue.]
Y’know, here we both were, figuring we were in some offshoot of our own… dreamscapes, voidscapes, some-sortsa-scape. But a place like this would never happen in the void I’m used to, and you don’t seem to be asleep at all.
[This might be vaguely troubling. Val, however, is not particularly bothered for the moment. How could she be, with grass like this?]
[Ah. We return our attention to The Horrors(TM). But...they don't much feel like horrors right now; not compared to real life. Not that he enjoyed seeing Jeremy's eyes on the freezer doors, nor hearing his voice like an echo down the aisles. It's just that...compared to what he usually sees of Jeremy, it's actually a bit tame...
[If he starts freaking out, he's going to freak out.
[Don't freak out...]
It seems possible, yeah. Probable, even...
[Don't freak out...!]
Does that...freak you out a little bit, or...? No? Just me?
[Hmm. Typically, Val only picks up on mood shifts when she’s in interrogation mode; otherwise, she’s usually busy steamrolling them. Maybe it’s this lovely weather, which sure is weather-ing, that gives her pause.
[Maybe… Dera is starting to freak out…?]
[Val frowns, mildly concerned. Not so much with what he’s talking about, though.] I mean, I never freak out— Well, no. I do. I do freak out. [Like she very well could have, in Void-Mart!] But getting zapped somewhere new for no reason? Kind of exciting, I think!
[She flicks a hand.] I get why you’d be concerned, though. If that helps.
[At this, he sort of...shrugs and nods at the same time. He is freaking out a little bit, but to his credit, he's keeping his emotions in check just fine.]
It kinda helps, yeah.
You're right, though. Like...I'm still not convinced I'm not dreaming. That's how...insane this is.
[Fuck. It's better than sitting at home and staring at the wall every night. He feels himself frown, lips quirking slightly to the side.
[Val’s not sure what to say after that; Dera’s mood seems to do another couple little flips of its own accord. She is reminded, again, that dealing with Real Flesh-and-Blood People™ is a strange experience. (Is it, though? Is Dera’s upset, here and before, really that foreign to her?)]
[All that aside, his request hits like a block to the face.]
[Oof. Rejected? His anxiety is outmatched only by his need to not appear like a complete loser; that need is being neglected, because he really, really does not want to be alone in this place - even if this particular corner of it does look like Home.
[It feels polite to argue and say something along the lines of, "No way, Val. I would still totally think you were cool no matter what world we were in." It feels disingenuous. Maybe she's insane. Maybe she's trying to destroy her world. Maybe she's a super scary villain who just happens to be kind of nice. Better than a super scary villain who's also really mean.
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It's...what you're suggesting, isn't it? [Was she being sarcastic?]
Here, maybe I can...tell you what I'm imagining, and we can help visualize it together--
Look, I know it sounds stupid, but the place isn't exactly brimming with options, huh?
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[It is, technically, what Val was suggesting. Partly. She did not suggest she might be able to do diddly squat. That part makes the whole thing sound like the load of unreal nonsense like Dera was talking about.
[Funny how the tables can turn.]
[In response she simply nods. Their options are limited indeed. Take the stage, Dera.]
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[Dera nods, feeling immediately stupid (read: self-conscious) for playing along at all, but...It could still be a dream, and if it isn't, then...Well, either way, anything could happen.]
Okay, close your eyes and just picture...[He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath in through his nose (coughs a bit, but you know how it is).]
It's like this big green back yard, but it slopes way down on this massive hill. There's a garden at the top with strawberries growing, but you aren't allowed to touch them yet.
[His voice, as he relays this, goes soft. He sounds...peaceful.]
There's uh...There's a weird sculpture at the bottom of the hill. It's got three big rungs on it, one inside the other like one of those nesting dolls. You can swing them around in a circle, but...you're not supposed to stand on them while they're moving. Could get hurt.
The cars...two play cars, old as shit. Not the kind with a motor - you have to move the pedals with your feet. There are rubber snakes in the backseat because real snakes keep getting in when your--
[He pauses.]
When you aren't looking.
And the sky is really...really blue today...
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[It’s a vivid picture. It’s more specific than nearly anything even Kade’s backstory has to offer; forbidden, tempting strawberries. A swinging, three-runged sculpture. Toy cars, foot-powered and haunted by snakes. And the bluest sky—not the glaring #0000FF of an error screen, but a real, true blue, the kind only a sky with an atmosphere can make.
[It’s a childhood. It’s soft, nigh-idyllic. And it’s…
[…here?]
[Val doesn’t risk opening her eyes first; maybe she won’t, ever. The fantasy is pleasant as it is all-surrounding; a sweet, warm dream, where kids do what they shouldn’t and everything is just… nice.]
[Should Dera look around, he’ll notice a few details askew; grass textures in low resolution, and the sculpture is warped as though run through an AI blender. On the horizon, the landscape gives way to a gaussian blur. But otherwise, the place of his memory is secure, and intact and voidless, as it should be.]
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[He opens his eyes. It's his grandmother's backyard. There are some differences - a blur here and there that doesn't make much sense; it doesn't matter. Emotion wells up in his chest, forcing its way out through teary eyes. His smile is wide and breathless; he never smiles like that anymore...]
Holy shit...
It really-- holy shit!
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[At Dera’s voice, curiosity wins and Val opens an eye—
[—and then the other (and by now both are clear), and her mouth falls open in an utterly thrilled shock.]
It—
It worked—!
[If she thought she was a kid in a candy store at Dream-Mart, this is a carnival. No, a theme park. No, a— It’s a place! It wasn’t predefined or randomly-generated! It’s real, live, actual place— Val could kiss the ground they stand on.]
It worked!
[She runs around in a small zigzag, pausing sporadically to make sure everything is still there, and it is, and— !!!!!]
Dera! [When Val turns back to him, her grin is wider than ever. For the first time since they’ve met, that smile is real, real, real—genuinely, unabashedly joyous.] You did it!
extremely rare icon unlocked
[The miracle he...made?
[He laughs, but it's wobbly - he's wobbly. He flops back against one of the brick walls near the garden, still laughing, still breathless. There are tears in his eyes, but they don't hurt. This is home. He never thought he'd truly get to see it again...]
This is amazing, this...
Val, you...[He laughs again, throwing up his hands as if in defeat, but it's a giddy sort of thing.]
You were right - no, listen! You did it. We did it!
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[Valerie indulges the giddy runaround just a bit longer, but she does notice those strange blurs and odd textures, and Dera’s talking to her, anyway. Might as well quit while she’s ahead, for a change.
[She kicks back by the wall with him, folding her hands behind her head and still looking around in bewilderment.]
Ha, the messed-up parts are probably my contribution. [It’s a singsong little sentence.] You, on the other hand: This is the place you imagined! [Val jabs him with a finger; a little too hard, probably, if only because she has no clue what a normal amount of pressure might be with a real person. No ill intent, for once.] Told ya you had it in you!
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[Will he ever stop laughing? They're only coming out one by one, but he feels them in his chest while he's talking.]
But hey, your contributions aren't messed up. It's like...our combined consciousnesses or something. That's pretty cool.
[He considers smoking again, observes his grandmother's perfect backyard, decides not to.]
This is the house I grew up in - well. This is the yard of the house I grew up in.
[There's no actual house to speak of.]
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[Combined consciousnesses are cool indeed, Dera. Granted, Val can’t imagine what she’d have to contribute to the void-spanning conscious creativity pool, but she’ll cede the point nonetheless. The voids she’s used to are a lot more one-sided with these things.]
Ah, so it’s your childhood home after all! [Val glances around for a house anyway.] There’s no void to fill here, but I bet you could make the rest of it! Memory permitting, and all.
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[He didn't quite connect those dots before if that is the case..]
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Well, yes! I figured that, anyway. [Familiarity, and all.] But now that you mention it…
[A pause. Sky’s still that brilliant blue.]
Y’know, here we both were, figuring we were in some offshoot of our own… dreamscapes, voidscapes, some-sortsa-scape. But a place like this would never happen in the void I’m used to, and you don’t seem to be asleep at all.
[This might be vaguely troubling. Val, however, is not particularly bothered for the moment. How could she be, with grass like this?]
Think we landed somewhere else entirely…?
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[If he starts freaking out, he's going to freak out.
[Don't freak out...]
It seems possible, yeah. Probable, even...
[Don't freak out...!]
Does that...freak you out a little bit, or...? No? Just me?
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[Hmm. Typically, Val only picks up on mood shifts when she’s in interrogation mode; otherwise, she’s usually busy steamrolling them. Maybe it’s this lovely weather, which sure is weather-ing, that gives her pause.
[Maybe… Dera is starting to freak out…?]
[Val frowns, mildly concerned. Not so much with what he’s talking about, though.] I mean, I never freak out— Well, no. I do. I do freak out. [Like she very well could have, in Void-Mart!] But getting zapped somewhere new for no reason? Kind of exciting, I think!
[She flicks a hand.] I get why you’d be concerned, though. If that helps.
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It kinda helps, yeah.
You're right, though. Like...I'm still not convinced I'm not dreaming. That's how...insane this is.
[Fuck. It's better than sitting at home and staring at the wall every night. He feels himself frown, lips quirking slightly to the side.
[He should enjoy this place while he can...
I'm chill. I'm good.
[Pause.]
Stick around and hang out a while though, okay?
[Please don't leave him alone like this...]
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[Huh, that actually worked. Kind of.
[Val’s not sure what to say after that; Dera’s mood seems to do another couple little flips of its own accord. She is reminded, again, that dealing with Real Flesh-and-Blood People™ is a strange experience. (Is it, though? Is Dera’s upset, here and before, really that foreign to her?)]
[All that aside, his request hits like a block to the face.]
…What?
[Baffled. Dumbfounded, even.]
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Would you stay with me? For a while?
Please?
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[Valerie blinks. Jabs a thumb at herself.]
Me?
[Points at the sky, waves around.]
Here?
[And finally, at Dera.]
With you?
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[Besides. He likes Val.]
You know. If you want, yeah. We could hang.
I'd like you to.
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[Val stares at him for a moment longer.]
[Promptly, flicks herself in the side of the head.]
[It does not wake her up.] You’re not kidding!
Wow, I’m sorry! [Sounds more stunned than apologetic, but it’s not false.] You know, no one’s ever asked me to stick around before!
[Is this actually happening?]
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Hmmm. [She glances aside for a moment.] If you were in my world you would not think that!
However… seeing as we are not in that world… [Probably, anyway....]
[Val folds a hand behind her back, and she dips her head in a little bow.]
I would be honored to keep your acquaintance, Dera~!
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[The bow is very charming. Evil super villains don't do cute little bows like that-- although, maybe.]
Sweet deal. We're buds, then.
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[Why not any/all of the above? That Dera is not fake-polite only endears Val to him more, frankly.]
[She goes for a firm, affirmative handshake.]
And so we are buds.